As theories go, this is certainly … one of them. And it’s certainly possible that Peter Baker is correct, but it’s neither as neat nor as compelling a case as he lets on. The New York Times chief reporter at the White House told MSNBC’s Alex Witt on Saturday that the tapes really just rehash the previously released transcripts. Baker claims that the current White House did this to “embarrass” Joe Biden and his staff.
Baker does grudgingly admit that the impact of these tapes goes well beyond what the transcript suggests, however. And that may be an even better motive than Baker suggests:
WITT: Why release the full audio now? I mean, it’s after the fact. And do we know how Axios got the tapes?
BAKER: Well, the Trump administration decided to put it out, and they decided to take advantage of…
